I. The Concept

From the 1970s into the 1990s, New Age was a buzz word for the expectation of a global new era marked by evolutionistic optimism (versus the apocalyptic scenarios of the Cold War), a monistic worldview, recovery of a unity of humankind with the natural world (end of the age of technocracy), and a “new consciousness” of a spiritual, ecological, and peaceable society,…